Mexico arrests a new suspect in 1994 assassination of a presidential candidate
MEXICO CITY — Federal prosecutors in Mexico made another arrest in connection with the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. The crime, which shocked the country and remains unsolved, has taken a new turn with the arrest of Jorge Antonio Sánchez Ortega in Tijuana. Sánchez Ortega is currently held in a maximum-security prison awaiting trial.
The arrest of Sánchez Ortega, confirmed by a federal official requesting anonymity, took place on Saturday, according to the National Registry of Detentions.
Colosio, the 1994 presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was shot twice during a rally in Tijuana. Federal prosecutors have been focusing on an intelligence agent, identified as Jorge Antonio “S,” as the alleged perpetrator of the second shooting.
As of Monday, the prosecutor’s office had not officially commented on the arrest of Sánchez Ortega.
Mario Aburto, who has been serving a 45-year prison sentence since 1994 after confessing to the assassination, later retracted his statement, alleging torture.
During President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration, the National Human Rights Commission recommended reopening the investigation following Aburto’s complaints.
Colosio’s murder sparked a political crisis in Mexico and was surrounded by controversy, with speculations about possible involvement of certain power circles within the ruling PRI.
In a January 2024 statement, the Attorney General’s Office presented evidence implicating the agent assigned to Colosio’s security in the assassination, pointing to ballistic evidence and witness testimonies.
The statement also highlighted a cover-up by the National Security and Investigation Center, indicating a criminal conspiracy to protect the agent involved in the assassination.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
